We are a thunderstorm (ready to strike)
by Len.chan
Summary: After the battle, they are one, glued to each other, always together. They just need a little permanent reminder of that bond. (Or the one where they all get tattoos).
1. Chapter 1

_Notes:_

 _I promised a second part. I deliver a second part._  
 _Also unbeta'd. Feel free to point out the mistakes._

* * *

"You don't have to keep doing this, you know?" Turning her head slightly, Trini looks over her shoulder at Kimberly, who's focused on carefully applying the ointment between her shoulder blades, "I'm pretty sure the tattoo is already healed by now."

"It's important to take proper care of it during the first days," Kim says, gently rubbing the smooth skin on Trini's back.

"I know that. But I'm also a superhero with enhanced healing. That should reduce the usual process to hours."

Trini wants desperately for Kim to stop touching her. Well, she doesn't _want_ to, as much as she _needs_ to. The first night she almost passed out, because she was sitting on her bed, without a shirt on, and Kimberly was taking her time spreading the damn ointment over the tattoo, making her whole body shiver in the process. She couldn't breathe. It shouldn't have taken more than five minutes, but Kim seemed to enjoy making her friend's heart do a somersault every time her fingers dared to go much lower than they should.

"You've been doing this three times a day during the last four days, Kim," She says after taking a deep breath, "My skin back there is probably as smooth as a baby's butt by now."

"Is this your gentle attempt to get rid of me?"

 _This is me trying to keep my sanity and our friendship intact,_ Trini thinks to herself. Because she's been getting these dreams, these fantasies, _delusions,_ about moments like this with Kim. Moments where they are alone, in silence, where Kimberly's soft hands explore her body in ways that would leave her breathless. She's dreamed of Kim's lips placing tender kisses on the still sensitive skin between her shoulder blades, of her voice, low and husky, whispering in her ear...

"Are you cold?" Kim asks, suddenly, "You're shivering."

"A little," She lies, reaching for her shirt and quickly putting it on. She's not cold, not at all. In fact, Trini feels like burning inside, like she's about to combust, and she needs to put some distance between them, or she'll end up doing something stupid.

After Trini moves away from her, Kim immediately stands up from the bed and moves a few steps back. Trini takes a deep breath and turns to look at her friend, who's staring at her own feet and playing with the hem of her shirt.

"I guess I should get going," Kim mutters, not really convinced of her own words.

"Uhm…. Yeah. Thanks for, you know, doing this."

"Of course," Kimberly's eyes find hers, and she gives her a shy smile, something unusual coming for the Pink Ranger, "You would have done the same."

"Well, yours is on a place that's actually very, _very_ easy to reach," Trini's eyes, inadvertently, go south and end up at Kim's hips. She has been trying not to think about it, about how easily would be for her to make whatever excuse that would cross her mind, and just touchher _there_.

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you did it," The instant the words leave Kimberly's lips, she seems to realize that she's said them out loud, because her face turns hilariously red, "Well, I-I'm… I'm going to…" She gestures the window, and nervously walks towards it, "See you tomorrow, right?"

Trini, still trying to process Kim's words, just nods and mumbles a quiet _"right"._

Seconds later, she's alone in her room.

* * *

The moment her feet touch the ground, Kimberly is hyperventilating.

She shouldn't be. She shouldn't have panicked the way she did. She should have been smoother, or careful enough to not say anything like that and scare Trini in the process.

The thing is… Kim knows exactly what is going on between them. She's known for a while. She'd have to be completely blind to not notice the way the other girl stares at her sometimes. With need, with lust, with something beyond any feelings of friendship. She _knows._ Trini is the oblivious one in this relationship, not her.

But Kimberly has been patient, taking one step at a time, building a strong bond, coffee date after coffee date. She wanted Trini to be comfortable with her, to feel treasured and loved, reassure her that what they had wasn't just because of the Ranger's bond. Kim had also been giving herself time to make sure that what she felt for her friend wasn't just physical. There's a ridiculous amount of unresolved sexual tension between them, that is painfully clear to everyone except the Yellow Ranger, but Kimberly couldn't risk what they have now based just on an attraction. Luckily for her, it didn't take her long to realize that she's been falling in love with Trini the moment she started running after the girl that day at the mine.

It was a matter of time, then. Of how long it would take Trini to catch up.

But she had to go and open her big damn mouth, and then just went and jumped off that window, instead of staying and facing the consequences.

It's not like she wasn't going to tell Trini soon. The last four days had been all about hinting at the true nature of her feelings for the other girl. But Trini seems to be more obtuse than Kim had expected at first, and the frustration combined with the _very_ vivid dreams she's been having lately ended up with her spilling some of her inner thoughts, causing the most awkward five seconds of her entire life. Because, yes, she's been having extremely detailed visions about her friend touching the pink lightning tattoo. More precisely, she's been having thoughts of Trini touching it with her lips, while she's on her knees, between her legs, while Kim shivers, and gasps, and buries her hands in the other girl's wild chestnut mane.

Now Kim has to make up her mind and decide.

She could avoid the issue; let Trini think that she didn't mean anything with that comment.

Or, she could go for the kill the moment they meet next morning for their usual coffee, grab the other girl's face and just kiss her like there's no tomorrow. That could go spectacularly well, but also has the potential to be a disaster of gigantic proportions.

"Hey, pretty girl," Kim, surprised by the voice, turns around to find Trini looking at her from her window, "Are you planning on spending the night standing outside my house?"

"Maybe I want to guard your dreams," She says back without thinking. _Again_.

"You know you'd be more comfortable in my bed for that, right?"

Taken aback by Trini's blunt offer, Kim needs to take a moment to think about the consequences of going back through that window and into the girl's room. Seeing the dazzling smile on her friend's face, Kimberly knows that if she goes back there with Trini, they wouldn't talk at all.

"Maybe tomorrow?" She asks instead, with a hint of hope in her voice, "After the bonfire?"

"Sounds like a plan." Trini stands from the edge of the window where she was leaning, but before she goes back inside, she smiles again, "Goodnight, Kim."

"Goodnight, Trini."

Kimberly keeps grinning like an idiot the whole way back to her house.

* * *

She really didn't know what to expect the next morning, but having Zack Taylor showing up before they can even grab their coffee and sit, definitely wasn't on her plans.

"Why are you even here?" She asks the boy, "On Saturdays you usually won't wake up until twenty minutes before detention starts."

"I don't know. I just woke up and decided to crash your coffee date," He shrugs unapologetically.

The worst thing about it is that both girls believe that that it's exactly what happened.

Kim isn't saying anything, but Trini can feel the other girl's eyes on her the whole time, making her whole body burn.

Zack didn't gave them time enough to talk, but she's sure that Kim crossed a line last night, that she followed her, and that they would have crossed a bunch more together if the Pink Ranger hadn't been coolheaded enough to jump off her window. The few seconds that had taken her to react to the comment that slipped past through Kim's lips the previous night were all the other girl needed to go running away from her, leaving Trini alone in her room with a storm of feelings already messing up with her head. Had she imagined it all? Did Kim regret saying it? Could it really be that she wasn't the only one with those feelings? That Kimberly wanted her, too?

She had been ready to jump from her window and go after her friend, when she saw Kim standing outside.

Then, suddenly, they were flirting, and Trini was offering her bed without thinking… And thank god Kim had been smart enough to decline.

After that, she had gone to bed, tried to sleep, and failed miserably, because she spent all night thinking about the many ways in which she could touch Kim's lightning bolt tattoo.

So, right now Trini is sleepy, grumpy, and extremely frustrated. She only finds solace in the fact that, sitting across from her, Kimberly doesn't seem to be doing much better.

* * *

Detention today has been a torture, but training is being literal hell.

Kim has been trying to distract herself all day from thinking about Trini, about what happened last night, and about that conversation that they would have had if Zack hadn't decided to ruin her plans first thing in the morning.

If it wasn't enough, Trini has chosen today to wear an amazingly fitting new sports bra that, somehow, has an opening right where her lightning bolt is. Kim wonders if the Yellow Ranger is wearing it today on purpose. If she is aware of the torture she's putting Kim through when, after a while, she takes of her shirt, picks up her hair in a ponytail, and starts sparring with Jason like that.

Zack, unaware that she isn't paying attention, ends up punching her on the stomach, and Kim falls to her knees, trying to get some air back into her lungs.

"Kim! Are you alright?!" He asks with worry in his voice, "I thought you were going to block that!"

"Yeah, yeah," She says between breaths, "I was distracted."

"You've been like that all day. Are you sure you're a…"

"Kim! What happened?" Trini, followed by Jason and Billy, comes running towards her. Then she's punching Zack on his arm, "You fucking asshole! What did you do?!"

Slightly recovered, Kim stands up and puts a hand on the smaller girl's arm.

"Hey, I'm alright," She reassures the girl, "He just caught me off guard."

"That would be a first."

"Yeah, well, you can blame yourself for that."

"Me? Why would it be my…" She watches as Kim raises an eyebrow at her and smirks, gesturing with her finger at the Yellow Ranger's body. That's when Trini understands, "Okay, no. It's not my fault that you don't have enough willpower to keep your head on the fight."

"Would you have it if I did this while training?" Wanting to make a point, Kim folds the waist of her pants, enough to let Trini catch a glimpse of her tattoo. The other girl's jaw falls open, and her face turns as red as Jason's armor.

"Hey, can I join the Pants Down party?" Zack, amused with the situation, is already hands on the matter.

A collective _NO_ echoes through the whole cave.

"Okay, Kim, Trini, it's clear that you two have something to discuss," Jason points out, "And it's probably better for everyone if you do it in private. So, let's wrap training for today. You go home, talk, and figure it all out. Zack, Billy and I will have a boys only night or something."

"That means I want details tomorrow," Zack winks at Trini, and she growls at him.

* * *

They walk back to the town in silence. It's still pretty early and there's still some daylight, so they don't have to rush.

It's awkward the first ten minutes, because it becomes clear that they're both hesitating on how to start _that_ conversation, but then, in an unexpected turn of events, Trini takes Kimberly's hand in hers and intertwines their fingers.

"So… Last night," She says, staring at her feet while they walk.

"Yeah."

"I didn't imagine it, right?"

"No," Kim confirms, "No, you didn't."

"You wanted to…?"

"Very much so."

"And you still want to?"

"More than anything."

At that, Trini turns her head to look at Kim, who stares back at her with a shy grin on her lips, urging her to continue talking.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't want to scare you," Kim replies, "I wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. What happened last night wasn't exactly the plan."

"So, what happened? Do I make you so hot and bothered that you can't follow your own plans?" Trini is mostly kidding, but Kimberly stops dead in her tracks.

"Yes," It's the taller girl's blunt answer. Then she tugs at Trini's hand, pulling her closer, almost erasing any distance between them, "I think I may have a thing for tattoos."

"Yeah?" Trini's question is answered with a slight nod and a growing smirk on Kim's face, "I may have a thing for _you_."

* * *

Jason is sitting in front of the fire, listening to Billy explaining his latest project, when he gets a new message from Kim.

 _Getting the tats was the best fucking idea u ever had as a leader of this team. Thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Notes:_

 _I promised a second part. I deliver a second part._  
 _Also unbeta'd. Feel free to point out the mistakes._

* * *

"You don't have to keep doing this, you know?" Turning her head slightly, Trini looks over her shoulder at Kimberly, who's focused on carefully applying the ointment between her shoulder blades, "I'm pretty sure the tattoo is already healed by now."

"It's important to take proper care of it during the first days," Kim says, gently rubbing the smooth skin on Trini's back.

"I know that. But I'm also a superhero with enhanced healing. That should reduce the usual process to hours."

Trini wants desperately for Kim to stop touching her. Well, she doesn't _want_ to, as much as she _needs_ to. The first night she almost passed out, because she was sitting on her bed, without a shirt on, and Kimberly was taking her time spreading the damn ointment over the tattoo, making her whole body shiver in the process. She couldn't breathe. It shouldn't have taken more than five minutes, but Kim seemed to enjoy making her friend's heart do a somersault every time her fingers dared to go much lower than they should.

"You've been doing this three times a day during the last four days, Kim," She says after taking a deep breath, "My skin back there is probably as smooth as a baby's butt by now."

"Is this your gentle attempt to get rid of me?"

 _This is me trying to keep my sanity and our friendship intact,_ Trini thinks to herself. Because she's been getting these dreams, these fantasies, _delusions,_ about moments like this with Kim. Moments where they are alone, in silence, where Kimberly's soft hands explore her body in ways that would leave her breathless. She's dreamed of Kim's lips placing tender kisses on the still sensitive skin between her shoulder blades, of her voice, low and husky, whispering in her ear...

"Are you cold?" Kim asks, suddenly, "You're shivering."

"A little," She lies, reaching for her shirt and quickly putting it on. She's not cold, not at all. In fact, Trini feels like burning inside, like she's about to combust, and she needs to put some distance between them, or she'll end up doing something stupid.

After Trini moves away from her, Kim immediately stands up from the bed and moves a few steps back. Trini takes a deep breath and turns to look at her friend, who's staring at her own feet and playing with the hem of her shirt.

"I guess I should get going," Kim mutters, not really convinced of her own words.

"Uhm…. Yeah. Thanks for, you know, doing this."

"Of course," Kimberly's eyes find hers, and she gives her a shy smile, something unusual coming for the Pink Ranger, "You would have done the same."

"Well, yours is on a place that's actually very, _very_ easy to reach," Trini's eyes, inadvertently, go south and end up at Kim's hips. She has been trying not to think about it, about how easily would be for her to make whatever excuse that would cross her mind, and just touchher _there_.

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you did it," The instant the words leave Kimberly's lips, she seems to realize that she's said them out loud, because her face turns hilariously red, "Well, I-I'm… I'm going to…" She gestures the window, and nervously walks towards it, "See you tomorrow, right?"

Trini, still trying to process Kim's words, just nods and mumbles a quiet _"right"._

Seconds later, she's alone in her room.

* * *

The moment her feet touch the ground, Kimberly is hyperventilating.

She shouldn't be. She shouldn't have panicked the way she did. She should have been smoother, or careful enough to not say anything like that and scare Trini in the process.

The thing is… Kim knows exactly what is going on between them. She's known for a while. She'd have to be completely blind to not notice the way the other girl stares at her sometimes. With need, with lust, with something beyond any feelings of friendship. She _knows._ Trini is the oblivious one in this relationship, not her.

But Kimberly has been patient, taking one step at a time, building a strong bond, coffee date after coffee date. She wanted Trini to be comfortable with her, to feel treasured and loved, reassure her that what they had wasn't just because of the Ranger's bond. Kim had also been giving herself time to make sure that what she felt for her friend wasn't just physical. There's a ridiculous amount of unresolved sexual tension between them, that is painfully clear to everyone except the Yellow Ranger, but Kimberly couldn't risk what they have now based just on an attraction. Luckily for her, it didn't take her long to realize that she's been falling in love with Trini the moment she started running after the girl that day at the mine.

It was a matter of time, then. Of how long it would take Trini to catch up.

But she had to go and open her big damn mouth, and then just went and jumped off that window, instead of staying and facing the consequences.

It's not like she wasn't going to tell Trini soon. The last four days had been all about hinting at the true nature of her feelings for the other girl. But Trini seems to be more obtuse than Kim had expected at first, and the frustration combined with the _very_ vivid dreams she's been having lately ended up with her spilling some of her inner thoughts, causing the most awkward five seconds of her entire life. Because, yes, she's been having extremely detailed visions about her friend touching the pink lightning tattoo. More precisely, she's been having thoughts of Trini touching it with her lips, while she's on her knees, between her legs, while Kim shivers, and gasps, and buries her hands in the other girl's wild chestnut mane.

Now Kim has to make up her mind and decide.

She could avoid the issue; let Trini think that she didn't mean anything with that comment.

Or, she could go for the kill the moment they meet next morning for their usual coffee, grab the other girl's face and just kiss her like there's no tomorrow. That could go spectacularly well, but also has the potential to be a disaster of gigantic proportions.

"Hey, pretty girl," Kim, surprised by the voice, turns around to find Trini looking at her from her window, "Are you planning on spending the night standing outside my house?"

"Maybe I want to guard your dreams," She says back without thinking. _Again_.

"You know you'd be more comfortable in my bed for that, right?"

Taken aback by Trini's blunt offer, Kim needs to take a moment to think about the consequences of going back through that window and into the girl's room. Seeing the dazzling smile on her friend's face, Kimberly knows that if she goes back there with Trini, they wouldn't talk at all.

"Maybe tomorrow?" She asks instead, with a hint of hope in her voice, "After the bonfire?"

"Sounds like a plan." Trini stands from the edge of the window where she was leaning, but before she goes back inside, she smiles again, "Goodnight, Kim."

"Goodnight, Trini."

Kimberly keeps grinning like an idiot the whole way back to her house.

* * *

She really didn't know what to expect the next morning, but having Zack Taylor showing up before they can even grab their coffee and sit, definitely wasn't on her plans.

"Why are you even here?" She asks the boy, "On Saturdays you usually won't wake up until twenty minutes before detention starts."

"I don't know. I just woke up and decided to crash your coffee date," He shrugs unapologetically.

The worst thing about it is that both girls believe that that it's exactly what happened.

Kim isn't saying anything, but Trini can feel the other girl's eyes on her the whole time, making her whole body burn.

Zack didn't gave them time enough to talk, but she's sure that Kim crossed a line last night, that she followed her, and that they would have crossed a bunch more together if the Pink Ranger hadn't been coolheaded enough to jump off her window. The few seconds that had taken her to react to the comment that slipped past through Kim's lips the previous night were all the other girl needed to go running away from her, living Trini alone in her room with a storm of feelings already messing up with her head. Had she imagined it all? Did Kim regret saying it? Could it really be that she wasn't the only one with those feelings? That Kimberly wanted her, too?

She had been ready to jump from her window and go after her friend, when she saw Kim standing outside.

Then, suddenly, they were flirting, and Trini was offering her bed without thinking… And thank god Kim had been smart enough to decline.

After that, she had gone to bed, tried to sleep, and failed miserably, because she spent all night thinking about the many ways in which she could touch Kim's lightning bolt tattoo.

So, right now Trini is sleepy, grumpy, and extremely frustrated. She only finds solace in the fact that, sitting across from her, Kimberly doesn't seem to be doing much better.

* * *

Detention today has been a torture, but training is being literal hell.

Kim has been trying to distract herself all day from thinking about Trini, about what happened last night, and about that conversation that they would have had if Zack hadn't decided to ruin her plans first thing in the morning.

If it wasn't enough, Trini has chosen today to wear an amazingly fitting new sports bra that, somehow, has an opening right where her lightning bolt is. Kim wonders if the Yellow Ranger is wearing it today on purpose. If she is aware of the torture she's putting Kim through when, after a while, she takes of her shirt, picks up her hair in a ponytail, and starts sparring with Jason like that.

Zack, unaware that she isn't paying attention, ends up punching her on the stomach, and Kim falls to her knees, trying to get some air back into her lungs.

"Kim! Are you alright?!" He asks with worry in his voice, "I thought you were going to block that!"

"Yeah, yeah," She says between breaths, "I was distracted."

"You've been like that all day. Are you sure you're a…"

"Kim! What happened?" Trini, followed by Jason and Billy, comes running towards her. Then she's punching Zack on his arm, "You fucking asshole! What did you do?!"

Slightly recovered, Kim stands up and puts a hand on the smaller girl's arm.

"Hey, I'm alright," She reassures the girl, "He just caught me off guard."

"That would be a first."

"Yeah, well, you can blame yourself for that."

"Me? Why would it be my…" She watches as Kim raises an eyebrow at her and smirks, gesturing with her finger at the Yellow Ranger's body. That's when Trini understands, "Okay, no. It's not my fault that you don't have enough willpower to keep your head on the fight."

"Would you have it if I did this while training?" Wanting to make a point, Kim folds the waist of her pants, enough to let Trini catch a glimpse of her tattoo. The other girl's jaw falls open, and her face turns as red as Jason's armor.

"Hey, can I join the Pants Down party?" Zack, amused with the situation, is already hands on the matter.

A collective _NO_ echoes through the whole cave.

"Okay, Kim, Trini, it's clear that you two have something to discuss," Jason points out, "And it's probably better for everyone if you do it in private. So, let's wrap training for today. You go home, talk, and figure it all out. Zack, Billy and I will have a boys only night or something."

"That means I want details tomorrow," Zack winks at Trini, and she growls at him.

* * *

They walk back to the town in silence. It's still pretty early and there's still some daylight, so they don't have to rush.

It's awkward the first ten minutes, because it becomes clear that they're both hesitating on how to start _that_ conversation, but then, in an unexpected turn of events, Trini takes Kimberly's hand in hers and intertwines their fingers.

"So… Last night," She says, staring at her feet while they walk.

"Yeah."

"I didn't imagine it, right?"

"No," Kim confirms, "No, you didn't."

"You wanted to…?"

"Very much so."

"And you still want to?"

"More than anything."

At that, Trini turns her head to look at Kim, who stares back at her with a shy grin on her lips, urging her to continue talking.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't want to scare you," Kim replies, "I wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. What happened last night wasn't exactly the plan."

"So, what happened? Do I make you so hot and bothered that you can't follow your own plans?" Trini is mostly kidding, but Kimberly stops dead in her tracks.

"Yes," It's the taller girl's blunt answer. Then she tugs at Trini's hand, pulling her closer, almost erasing any distance between them, "I think I may have a thing for tattoos."

"Yeah?" Trini's question is answered with a slight nod and a growing smirk on Kim's face, "I may have a thing for _you_."

* * *

Jason is sitting in front of the fire, listening to Billy explaining his latest project, when he gets a new message from Kim.

 _Getting the tats was the best fucking idea u ever had as a leader of this team. Thanks!_


End file.
